Much of this guide is dedicated to providing advice on how local government can develop successful partnerships with the private sector. The process of developing successful partnerships can be complex and involve various types of expertise. All stages of the partnership-building process are important. Failure to give proper attention to one stage can undermine all of the good work performed in the other stages.
Most guides prepared for provincial or local governments identify a five- or six-stage process for establishing successful partnerships. The Best Practices Guide for Public Private Partnerships prepared for the Province of BC identifies a five-stage process:
Stage 1 - Pre-planning, Planning and Approvals
Stage 2 - Request for Proposals
Stage 3 - Evaluating Proposals and Selecting a Proponent
Stage 4 - Negotiations and Contract Award
Stage 5 - Project Implementation
Pre-qualification of potential private partners can also be a valuable step and is preferred by the private sector.
This guide follows the general partnership-building process outlined in the provincial guide, but makes the necessary changes to reflect the local government context. The guide also assumes that local governments have prepared themselves from the perspective of policy, procedures and organizational changes to accommodate a successful partnership-building process.
A five-stage partnership building process is recommended to local government. These five stages are: